The Odyssey

Overview Composed in Greece around 750-725 BC The Iliad and The Odyssey are perhaps the greatest masterpieces of the epic form The two stories are generally accepted to have been written by Homer, a blind Greek poet, but many think they are combined work of several different poets. Both stories were original told orally and sometimes sung. After telling the story over and over, it might have been generations later before it was ever written down. Overview

Overview cont. Three important pieces of the epics are: The Trojan War The heroism of Odysseus The interference of Greek gods Overview cont.

According to the legend, the war began after Paris kidnapped Helen from her husband Menelaus, the kid of Sparta (Greece). Helen was considered to be the most beautiful woman in the world. Since shew as the cause of the war, she was given epithet “the face that launched a thousand ships.” Epithet: a brief descriptive phrase used to characterize a specific person or thing For the first nine years of the war, the Greeks and the Trojans fought, but the Greeks could not make it into Troy because it was surrounded by high walls. The Trojan War

Odysseus, the king of Ithica and a master strategist, thought of a plan to deceive the Trojans into thinking that they had surrendered or given up the fight. He ordered a giant wooden horse to be built and left at the gates of Troy The Trojans found the horse, assumed the Greeks had left if as a peace offering, and brought it inside the giant walls. It wasn’t until after that they realized that Odysseus and the Greek soldiers were hiding inside of it. Odysseus earned the epithet “the shrewdest of all Greeks” because of his clever plan. His trip home is where he experiences the worst suffering… The Trojan War cont.

The Heroic story of Odysseus Basic summary: The Odyssey deals with Odysseus’ adventures as he makes his way home from Troy and with events that take place on Ithaca just before and after his return Odysseus departed from Troy with a fleet of 12 ships carrying 720 men. On his way home, the enemies he fights are not military ones. Instead, he encounters various monsters who try to eat him, and women who try and keep him from his wife Penelope. Odysseus was known for his great strength and courage. In addition, what sets Odysseus apart from others is what has been called his craft or his guile: the ingenious tricks he uses to get himself out of difficult situations. The Heroic story of Odysseus

The Intervention of Gods and Goddesses Another dimension of human struggles seen in Homer’s epic are the conflicts among gods and goddesses on Mount Olympus In Homer’s time, most Greeks believed that the gods not only took an active interest in human affairs, but also behaved in recognizably human ways. They often engaged in their own trivial quarrels and petty jealousies. The story of Odysseus’ return from Troy contains some notable instances of divine interference. Odysseus has Athena, who sided with the Greeks in the Trojan War, on his side, but he has displease the gods who were on the side of the Troy. The Intervention of Gods and Goddesses

Odysseus is an Epic Hero The Odyssey is an epic: long narrative poem that describes that adventures of a hero who reflects the ideals and values of a nation or race They are not works of history, but works of imagination Epics usually involve complications such as strange creatures, divine intervention, and treacherous weather. Themes found in epics reflect universal concerns, such as courage, loyalty, life and death, and the fate of the nation. An epic is all about its hero and about how he becomes heroic. An epic hero is a larger than life figure who embodies the ideals of a nation or a race. Epic heroes take part in long, dangerous adventures and accomplish great deeds that require courage and superhuman strength. We will see the Odysseus is an epic hero, but because he is human, he will also display human faults. Odysseus is an Epic Hero